HoopsHD’s Jon Teitel will spend the upcoming months covering several Georgetown basketball home games, with (hopefully) a very special reward coming in March. However, since it is a rare occurrence for the Quakers to visit him in DC, he was in attendance Sunday afternoon for American’s home-opener at Bender Arena and prepared this photo essay about their matchup against Penn.
Pregame meal: better than Howard (which had no meal), but worse than Georgetown (because I was only able to snag 2 slices of pizza before they ran out of food). On the plus side, there are LOTS of notable coaches in the house:
1. Gary Williams: best-known for winning the 2002 NCAA title as coach at Maryland, but his very 1st job as a college head coach was at American from 1978-1982:
2. Mark Turgeon: won 471 career games, made 5 NCAA tourneys during a 7-year stretch as coach at Maryland from 2015-2021…and was thrilled to see me!:
3. Jimmy Patsos: won the 2002 NCAA title as an assistant to Williams at Maryland, but became a HoopsHD legend after his unforgettable performance in the handshake line as head coach at Siena in 2017 (www.youtube.com/shorts/Wg5NIiKudho):
Right before tip-off the Eagles unveiled last season’s Patriot League championship banner (their 1st since 2014):
Bonus points to the Eagles for naming their mascot “Clawed”!:
Let’s tip it off:
Today is Coach Fran McCaffery’s 1st game with the Quakers that is taking place away from the Palestra since he scored 2 PTS as a player in a 10-PT loss to St. John’s in the 1982 NCAA tourney (Chris Mullin scored 19 PTS):
The Eagles trailed 11-7 after the 1st 5 minutes, then went on 21-4 run during the subsequent 6 minutes thanks in large part to SO F Julen Iturbe. He did some damage from inside with a tip-in/layup, and stepped outside to drain a pair of threes en route to 10 PTS in the 1st half:
Just when all looked lost for the Quakers, they went on a 14-2 run to get right back in the game. Penn SR wing Michael Zanoni did not do much from long range in his season-opener last Friday (0-3 3PM), but has apparently fixed whatever was wrong, as he knocked down 4 shots from behind the arc in the opening stanza:
American FR G Madden Collins scored just 5 PTS in his college debut last Monday, but the 2nd time was the charm as he made a pair of jump shots and converted a couple of steals into layups on the other end to help his team enter halftime with a 42-37 lead:
Penn used some senior leadership to take the lead late in the 2nd half. Ethan Roberts made a pair of old-fashioned 3-PT plays (which is how he was able to have his 2nd straight game with 11+ FTA), while Cam Thrower was able to get into the lane for several layups of his own as the road team took a 67-66 lead with under 7 minutes left:
The lowlight of the 2nd half was when I experienced my 1st-ever college coach’s challenge in person. Coach McCaffery asked the refs to review an out-of-bounds call with just under 6 minutes left, so they spent several minutes at the monitor…then walked across the court to consult yet ANOTHER monitor…and then finally confirmed their original call. The process worked, but it was 5 minutes of my life that I am never getting back:
Collins kept pouring it on in the 2nd half, finishing with 25 PTS/4 STL in 25 minutes, and he got some timely contributions from his senior backcourt teammate Geoff Sprouse (who scored all 10 of his PTS in the 2nd stanza), as American got its 1st win of the season by a score of 84-78:
In the postgame “scrum” (aka “coach stands outside the press conference room while a few media members pepper him with questions”), I asked Coach McCaffery who his starting PG would be when his team heads to Providence on Tuesday. He did not want to field that 1, so I rolled the dice to see if he would say when he would make the decision. Answer: “sometime today”. AJ Levine has started the 1st 2 games (0-2 FG, 1-2 FT), but I think it might be time for Thrower (6-12 FG, 12-13 FT) to take over:
In the home team’s more conventional postgame press conference, I wondered how American felt about seeing its championship banner unveiled before tip-off. Iturbe admitted it was awesome to see a few of his former teammates return for the ceremony and that the current team is ready to do it again, while Coach Duane Simpkins shared that he felt choked up for a second and that it was great to celebrate that moment with the fans:
That is a wrap for now but check back later this week as I visit my 3rd DC-area gym in a 10-day stretch when Georgetown hosts Binghamton!
